Sheet feeding mechanism



June 11, 1946.

s. G. HYDE ETAL SHEET FEEDING MECHANISM 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 23, 1944 INVENTORS June 11, 19%.. L G. HYDE ETAL I 2,402,048

SHEET FEEDING MECHANISM Filed'Dec. 23, 1944 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 V INVENTORS BY 5. mm WW June 11, 1946. G. G. HYDE ETI'AL 2,402,043

SHEET FEEDING MECHANISM Filed Dec. 23, 19441 4 Sheets-Sheet s INVENTORJ June 11, 1946.

G. G. HYDE ETAL SHEET FEEDING MECHANISM 4 sheets -sl leet 4 Filed Dec. 25, 1944 V INVENTORS Patented June 11, 1946 snEE'r FEEDING MECHANISM I George G. Hyde, Darlen, Con? and John 11. Y

Hochull, Woodhaven, Crucible Steel Company of America, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New Jersey Application December 23, 1944, Serial No. 589,586 a 6 Claims; (01. 211-10) The invention. relates to a feeding mechanism capable of handling heavy metal sheets as produced in steel mills, which are of large size and weight, frequently being about 12 ft. long, nearly 3 ft. wide, and weighing about 400 lbs. or upwards. 1 The mechanism is especially useful where sheets of the above character are deposited from time to time upon a supporting frame in quantities as needed to maintain a pack of sheets on the frame, and the sheets are required to be separated successively from the pack of sheets on the frames,

and fed to a traveling conveyor or other. receiving structure.

The invention aims to provide such a mechanism wherein the supply of sheets on the frame may be added to as needed from time'to time,

1 without interfering with the continuity of the feeding operations. Special difficulties are involved in securing this advantage in a mechanism handling heavy sheets as above referred to,

because of the weight or bulk of the sheets, and prior mechanisms used for this class of material have required that the feed be interrupted while the supply of sheets to be fed was being replenished.

Another object of the invention is to provide a feeding mechanism. of the above character wherein the sheet or sheets being separated from the pack will be largely relieved during the separatingstep from the weight of the remaining sheets of the pack, thus reducing markedly the force required to move the sheet being separated and minimizing marring of adjacent sheet surfacesdue to excessive friction and rubbing of one against the other during the separating movement.

The invention also aims to provide a feeding mechanism of the above nature which will afford facile and reliable delivery ofthe sheet or sheets to be delivered after being moved relative, to the pack of sheets as above described; and to provide such a mechanism which'will handle sheets of various sizes without requiring special adjustments to. accommodate the machine thereto. Further objects and advantages of the invention will be in part obvious and in part specifically redisclosure should be regarded as merely illustra assignors to a feeding mechanism constructed to operate in accordance with the invention; the section being taken on line I--I of 2, looking in the direction of the arrows.

Figs. 2 and 3 are respectively a general plan view and front elevation of the machine shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 in an enlarged front elevation showing certain operating parts of the machine.

Figs. 5 and 6 are detail sections taken respectively on the line 5 5 and 6-8 of Fig. 4 looking in the direction of the arrows.

Fig. 7 is a section on the line l-g-I of Fig. 6 looking in the direction of the arrows.

. Fig. 8 is a schematic view showing certain fluid pressure control lines which may be used in connection with the mechanism.

In accordance with the present invention a pack of sheets to be fed is deposited on a frame of such construction that the sheets of the pack stand up edgewise on the frame, and the pack is slidable along the frame to a position in which its forward sheet comes up against a stop. Thereupon a periodically operated ejector engages the end sheet or sheets to be fed, and moves the latter upwardly in a direction parallel to the pack until the ejected sheet is free of engagement with the stop member and so positioned that it may swing downwardly away from the pack to a conveyor or like point of delivery. Preferably a pusher is employed which is operated alternately with respect to the ejector, to advance the pack into engagement with the stop after each successive sheet has been ejected from the the mechanism. The mechanism also is prefer ably so constructed that gravity effects or largely assists in effecting the swinging movements of ferred to in the description hereinafter contained jwhich, taken in conjunction with the accomparallel rails I mounted upon a bedplate "2, in

the ejected sheets and cradle. The above and other features of the invention will be more apparent as the description proceeds.

Referring first more particularly to Figs. 1 and 2, the illustrated form of the invention isshown as having a supporting frame of thecharacter above mentioned, which consists of a plurality of such manner that a pack lof steel sheets to be tive of the principles of the'invention in its broader aspects. In the'drawingkm.1isa'verticalsectionalviewtaken through is fed may'be maintained upon the rails l with the sheets standing up on edge, and their edges on the rails sothat the pack may 3 be pushed up against a transverse stop 4 extending' across the forward ends of the rails. The supply of sheets in thepack 3 will be added to from time to time as successive sheets are fed, usually by an overhead crane which deposits further sheets from time to time on the rails behind the pack, thus adding sheets thereto as,

needed to maintain a continuous supply. We prefer to provide an appropriate number of mechanical pushers 5 which are operated periodically to push the stack forwardly until its forward sheet engages properly against stop 4, As shown each pusher 5 is in the form of a plunger operated by a pneumatic cylinder 6 as will be later referred to in more detail. The stop 4 is shown as provided with a bottom ledge 1 which vention each ejector member takes the form of a reciprocable rod 8 of T-shaped cross section, which is slidably supported within the stop'memher 4 by means of guide plates 9 (see Figs. 4 and 5) and is actuated by an appropriate cam mechanisni carried by a bracket iii fastened to the bottom ledge 'l of stop member 5. In the form shown, each bracket in is located somewhat to one side of its'corresponding ejector rod 8, and the lower end of the rod is attached to a cam follower having side plates M (Fig. 4) between which are mounted upper and lower rolls l2 and It respec= tively, the follower being guided by a roll is (Fig. 3) which i mounted on a stud it extending from one of the plates Ii, and working in a slot ifia in bracket ill. A cam it carried by a rotatable shaft Il works between the rollers i2 and i3 and thus all of the ejector rods are reciprocated in unison in paths parallel to the plane of stop member 4 and the sheets 3.

When the ejector rods 8 are in lower retracted position their lower ends underlie the bottom edge of the forward sheet of the pack which is in engagement with the stop member. are to be ejected one at a time the sheet engaging portion of the ejwtor rod will be of efiective thickness somewhat less than the thickness of one sheet, or if it is desired to eject more than one sheet simultaneously the upper end or nose of the ejector member will be made correspondingly larger. To facilitate the upward ejecting motion of the plate, the stop member s is preferably. provided with a suitable number of anti-friction rollers l8 (Figs. 5 and 8) which project slightly be= yond the plane of the adjacent surface of the stop member, and thus relieve the friction between the sheet being ejected and member Q. As shown each of these roller members is journaled in a housing is clamped to the outer side of stop member 4 and projecting into a hole ill therein.

It should be noted that due to the upstanding position-of the sheets in pack 3, the sheet being ejected is largely relieved'from excessive pressure against or frictional engagement with the face of the adjacent stationary sheet of the pack, which is of special importance in the handling of sheets weighing hundreds of pounds apiece as is the case with steel sheets of customary sizes used, Thus the power required to eject the sheets If the sheets is greatly reduced, and also marring of the sheet 1 surfaces, and sheets adjacent the ones being displaced are not moved by frictional engagement therewith. While a sheet is being ejected, the pusher members 5 are' preferably relieved of 'any substantial pressure against the pack for similar reasons, as hereinafter described in more detail. The pushers need be operated only intermittently between ejecting operations, to push the pack forwardly until the next sheet or sheets to be ejected are in proper position adjacent to stop 4, Also when further sheets are to be added to the pack 3, the pushers'fi will be operate to move them to properposition parallel to and in contact with the adjacent sheets of the pack. It will be noted that a construction of the above described type afiords facile addition of more sheets to the pack whenever desired, without interfering with the ejecting operations,

When the sheet to be ejected has been pushed up by ejector members 8 to the position indicated for the sheet 3a at the top of Fig. 1, this movement frees-the lower portion of the sheet 3a from engagement with the stop member 4, the lower edge of the sheet 301. being then at about the level of the forwardly extending ledge 4a (Fig. '7) at the top of stop member 4. At this stage the sheet to is free to swing downwardly away from the pack of sheets 3 about itslower edge as la pivot, as indicated by the arrow 3b in Fig. 1. To facilitate this downward movement we prefer to position the rails I and the stop member (l in such manner that the pack of sheets 3 and the ejected sheet So will assume a somewhat forwardly inclined position. As sown in Fig. l the rails 2 are inclined about 7 to the horizontal and the stop member 4 about 7 to the vertical, which will usually be sufficient to cause the above mentioned downwardly swinging movement of the sheet to to be initiated by the action of gravity. This downward inclination of the rails i also facilitates the movement of the pack of sheets along the rails into engagement with stop i, and need not be so great as to largely impose the weight of the pack on the forward sheets and thereby produce excessive friction of the sheet or sheets being ejected against the face of the adjacent stationary sheet of the pack,

One or more mechanically actuated sheet tilting members may be used and operated in timed relation to the ejector members a to positively initiate the tilting movement of the sheet So, when the latter has reached the position indicated at the top of Fig. 1. As shown schematically in Fig. 1, these sheet tilting members comprise rotary arms 2i carried by a shaft 22 which is rotated in timed relation to shaft it previously mentioned.

As the sheet to is moved upwardly while being ejected from the pack, a gap is created between stop 4 and the remainder of the paciz. To prevent the ejected sheet to from slipping bacl; into this gap when the ejectorrods 8 move downwardly, suitable latching or looking devices may be employed in appropriate number spaced along the stop member 4. As shown in Fig. 7 such lock-= ing devices may each consist of a dog 32 piv otally mounted on a stud 33 which extends across a recess 34 in the face of stop member 6, the dog being urged by a spring 35 toward a position whereinits upper end 35 projects out beyond the adjacent face of stop member 4. Thus while the above gap exists, the above locking members pre= vent the ejected sheet from'slipping downwardly into the gap, but when the pack of sheets is again pushed up against stop 4 after the ejecting operation has been completed, the upper end 36 lower ends to a spindle 24 running across the machine underneath the ledge 4a and journaled in brackets 25 (Fig. 3). The arms 23 are urged toward the upper position shown in Fig. l by appropriate means such as oneor more counterweights 28 carried by arms 2! (Fig. 1) fastened to the shaft 24. Thus when the sheet or sheets is have been ejected from the pack to the upper position indicated at the top of Fig. l, the cradle constituted by the arms 23 lies against the adjacent face of the sheet 3a, and as the ejected sheet swings downwardly as above described, the cradle partially sustains the weight of the sheet and checks the fall of the latter, until the sheet is deposited at its point of delivery. In the form shown a delivery conveyor is provided, having freely rotatable rollers 28 journaled in side plates 29, the conveyor being downwardly inclined so that as the ejected sheets are successively deposited upon it by the arms 23, the sheets pass downwardly by gravity along the conveyor and are finally delivered to appropriate apparatus such as the traveling conveyor indicated schematically at the right 01' Fig. .1 as having rollers 39 sup- After the sheet has.

ported in side plates it. moved along the above mentioned downwardly inclined conveyor to a point where it is clear of the arms 23, the cradle swings up by gravity to the position indicated in Fig. 1, where it is ready to receive the next sheet ejected from the pack.

It should be noted that a feeding mechanism of the above type requires no adjustments to accommodate itself to sheets or diflerent lengths or widths. The lilting movement produced by the elector members may be the same for dinerent widths of sheet and will usually be much less for widths of the narrowest sheets operated upon. The remaining movements of the sheets after they have been raised to upper position may be produced entirely by gravity until the sheets reach the traveling conveyor above mentioned.

The rate of feed may also be readily adjusted to conform to requirements, the mechanism being capable of rapid operation, and adjustment of cylinder 8. A check valve 43 interposed between the pipes 31 and I2 and actuated by a cam 44, closes oi! the supply of low pressure air while valve I! is open, but after valves 18 and 40 have closed, air under low pressure is maintained in the outer end of cylinder 6, thus imposing through plunger 5 a relatively low pressure on the pack of sheets, which pressure need be merely sumcient to hold the sheets of the pack in proper relation to each other until the high pressure air is again applied after the completion or the sheet ejecting step. A valve ll may be used to vent the cylinder 6 when pusher 5 is to be retracted to admit further-sheets to the pack.

While the invention has been disclosed as carried out by a mechanism of the above described specific construction, it should be understood that changes may be made therein without departing from the invention in its broader aspects, within the scope of the appended claims.

We claim:

l. A sheet feeding mechanism of the class described including a supporting frame constructed to underlie the bottom edges of a pack of upstanding metal sheets and afford sliding move-' ment of such pack along the frame, a stop member limiting the aforesaid sliding movements of such pack, a sheet elector member having means for periodically actuating the same to raise a sheet of the Pack from stop engaging position to an upper position wherein said sheet is free to swing downwardly, said mechanism including structure whereby said sheet is caused to swing downwardly to a discharged position after beingmoved by the ejector member to the above mentioned upper position, said mechanism also ineluding a cradle mounted for movement between upperand lower positions wherein it receives said sheet during the aforesaid downward swinging movement of the. latter and moves downward therewith.

2. A sheet feeding mechanism of the class described including a supporting frame. constructed to underli the bottom edges of a pack of upstanding metal sheets and aflord sliding movement'of suchpack along the frame, a stop member limiting the aforesaid sliding movements of a such pack, a sheet elector member having means of the rate of feed requiring merely regulation of the speed of rotation of shaft ii. The mechanism may be readily adapted to handle longer sheets merely by adding further ejector units.

In Fig. 8 we have shown schematically a pneumatic pressure operating system for the cylinder 8 and plunger 5, according to which air under relatively high pressure is supplied from a pipe line 36, and air under lowpressure through a pipe 31. At stages where the ejector members d are in lower inactive position, a valve 38 controlled bya cam 39, opens to admit air under high pressure into the rear end of cylinder 6, thus causing the plunger 6 to push the pack of sheets forward into position against stop member 4. Then for periodically actuating the same to raise a sheet of the pack from stop engaging position to an upper position wherein said sheet is free to swing downwardly, said mechanism including structure whereby said sheet is caused to swing downwardly to a discharged position after being moved by the ejector member to the above mentioned upper position, said mechanism also including a cradle mounted for movement between upper and lower positions wherein it receives said sheet during the aforesaid downward swinging movement of the latter and moves downward therewith, and a conveyor positioned to receive sheets moving downwardly with the cradle as aforesaid.

3. A sheet feeding mechanism of the class described including a supporting frame constructed to underlie the bottom edges of a pack of upstanding sheets and afford sliding movement of such pack along the frame, a stop member limiting the aforesaid sliding movements of such pack,

said fram being somewhat downwardly inclined in a direction towards said stop member to cause an upper oblique position wherein said sheet is free to swing downwardly by gravity from its upper oblique position aforesaid, said mechanism also including a cradle mounted for movement between upper and lower positions wherein it receives said sheet during the aforesaid downwardly swinging movement of the latter and moves downwardly therewith, said cradle being urged toward its upper position but having structure whereby it moves downwardly as aforesaid'un der the weight of the downwardl swinging sheet.

4. A sheet feeding mechanism of the class described including a supporting frame constructed to underlie the bottom edges of a pack of upstanding metal sheets and afford sliding movement of such pack along the frame, a stop member limiting the aforesaid sliding movement of such pack, a sheet ejector member having means for periodically actuating the same to engage the underside of the end metal sheet abutting said stop member-to raise said sheet of the pack from stop engaging position to an upper position free of said stop member, said mechanism including latching means operative to prevent the sheet from slipping back into position between the pack and the stop after being raised to the aforesaid upper position.

5. A sheet feeding mechanism of the class'described including a supporting frame construct= ed to underlie the bottom edges of a pack of upengage the lower portionof the adjacent sheet of the pack, and a cradle pivoted about a horizontal axis, and urged toward aposition above the level of the stop member, a sheet ejector member having means for periodicall actuating the same to raise a sheet of the pack from stop engaging position to an upper position wherein said sheet is free of said stop member, and adjacent said cradle, whereby a sheet pushed up to said last mentioned position may swing downwardly in a direction away from the pack while resting against said cradle.

6. The combination of claim 5 wherein said cradle is urged by gravity toward a position above the level of the stop member, and tilted to a lower position by the weight of the sheet engaging the cradle, and an inclined conveyor positioned to retilted to a lower position as aforesaid.

GEORGE G. mzpn JOHN H; nocnum. 

